Don't Pay No Mind to the Demons
by wanderlustlights
Summary: AU of senior year if Glee Club had never been formed in the pilot. Dave puts a stop to Kurt's being bullied. Title from "Home" by Phillip Phillips. Warning for homophobia and slurs.


**Title: **Don't Pay No Mind to the Demons  
**Author:** wanderlustlights  
**Rating:** PG  
**Word Count:** 896  
**Warning: **homophobia, homophobic slurs  
**Disclaimer:** In no way do I own Glee.  
**Summary:** Kurt and Dave bake Christmas cookies. Title from "Home" by Phillip Phillips.  
**Prompt:** "AU where Glee Club was never formed and Kurt is being bullied by Finn and his friends" for Carmen/colddavecembernight/dingdongimdead

* * *

Shove. Slam. _Bang_.

Kurt clenched his jaw, falling back into the row of lockers as yet another dumb jock thrust him backward. He winced, feeling the combination lock digging into a healing bruise from only three days ago, and tried his best to readjust himself but it didn't seem like Hudson was going to let him move or give him the chance to run away anytime soon.

Kurt glared up at Hudson, feeling the anger swell within him as his hand tightened into a fist, ready to fight back at any moment.

Hudson glanced down, seeing Kurt's arm shaking, and chuckled lowly. "What? You gonna hit me?" He raised an eyebrow while the rest of his goons laughed with him at the very thought of Kurt actually standing up for himself for once. "Just try me, homo."

Kurt swallowed thickly, glancing at the other jocks then back to Hudson again. He opened his mouth to say something, saw the look on Hudson's face, and shut it again, looking down.

Hudson snickered. "Yeah. That's what I thought. Fag."

"Hey!"

Kurt startled, glancing with wide eyes as a large, hulking figure came running down the hallway.

"What the fuck do you think you're doing?" Dave shouted, and shoved his way through the crowd of jocks to pull Hudson off of Kurt. "Get off him!"

Hudson gave Dave a once over. "And what's a nerd like you gonna do, huh, Karofsky?" he asked with a slight smirk, eyes challenging.

Dave scowled at Hudson, meeting his gaze head on. He might be a bit of a nerd, sure, he liked science and math and was good at it and he knew it, but that didn't mean he wasn't bulky enough to beat the shit out of anyone who might mess with him or anyone who was getting the brunt of the jocks' brutal attacks on the rest of the student body. "You really wanna know?" he asked lowly.

Hudson didn't say anything for a moment, finally deciding to just let it go after a moment. "You know what? It's not worth it." He glanced at the rest of his cronies. "Let's go. Wouldn't wanna catch the gay," he sneered, and with one last shove at Kurt, left, his friends following.

Dave hurried over to Kurt, holding him by a hand on each of the boy's shoulders and helping him to stand more fully. "You okay?"

Kurt cleared his throat, nodding shortly. "I'm fine," he said softly.

"You sure? He didn't hurt you too bad, did he?"

"No," Kurt replied, shaking his head and giving Dave a tiny smile, trying to put on a brave face. "I'm fin – oh god."

Dave backed away a little, hands still not leaving Kurt but enough to give him a tiny bit of space to see what was wrong? "What? What happened?"

"My, uhm – it's just my back. I'll be fine."

Dave's brows furrowed in confusion, letting his hands fall from Kurt's shoulders. "Your back?"

Kurt nodded. "When he shoved me, my back, it – it hit the lock and hit-"

"What?" Dave asked, pressing on.

"A bruise I already had," Kurt finished, not looking Dave in the eye.

Dave was quiet for a moment. "_What_?"

Kurt closed his eyes tightly for a moment before opening them and giving Dave a tight smile. "Please. I'm sure it's not that hard to miss all the bullying that goes on at this school, not matter how much the teachers try to deny it. It really shouldn't come as that much of a surprise that I get the shit beaten out of me every time they catch me alone. The bruises are just the battle scars, I suppose." He took a deep breath, letting it out slowly, and bent down to grab his book bag, hooking it over his shoulder. "Anyway, I'll be fine. A few more months and I'll be out of here, never to see them again. I can last that long." Kurt glanced back up at the other boy. "Sorry, you – you're… Karofsky, right?"

Dave nodded. "Yeah. Dave."

Kurt grinned. "Well it's nice to meet you, David. And thank you for saving me. I suppose you're sort of my knight in shining armor. Minus the shining armor, of course."

Dave laughed, pushing the glasses up his nose. "Right. Knight in shining glasses, maybe?"

Kurt chuckled, suddenly feeling better with that one comment than he had all day. "Yeah, maybe."

Dave shuffled his feet, glancing at the people walking past them then back to Kurt. "Can I, uh…"

"What?"

Dave felt his face heat slightly under the other boy's gaze. "Can I walk you to class?"

Kurt blinked, stunned. "What?" he asked again, and cursed himself for saying such a stupid word again, and twice in a row no less. He probably sounded like an idiot.

"I just – if they come after you again, I'd wanna be there."

Kurt stared for a moment before, finally, nodding. "Sure," he said. "That'd be nice."

Dave cleared his throat, while Kurt started walking hesitantly, letting Dave walk beside him.

"Thank you again," said Kurt when they'd finally gotten to his classroom.

Dave gave him a smile, nodding. "No problem. Uh… wait for me here when class is over and, uhm, w-we can go to lunch together if you want."

Kurt smiled. "I'd like that."

Dave couldn't help but smile back.

_fin._


End file.
